Wednesday, January 29, 2014

I swear to you I feel like I've been hibernating since January 1st. My hair is almost never done (but it's dark brown again, yippee) and I live every day in sweat pants. PLEASE, someone invite me somewhere so I can put some damn makeup on.

We had another snow day today and another scheduled for tomorrow, which makes a grand total of 4 snow days and it's not even February.

It's 4:04 and all 4 kids are napping right now. Well, I doubt that Bella and Mia are actually sleeping because they are way too cool for that but they're laying quietly in their beds and I couldn't be more happy. Today we've had a fake snowball fight, baked banana bread, played restaurant, read to each other, watched Wild Kratts, built a fort, shook our booties to the High School Musical soundtrack and watched Indy crawl!

Prime example of why I don't homeschool

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I interrupt this sweet sounding message to make some clarifications. Yes indeed, I had 15 blissful minutes yesterday to write the above paragraph but I was never able to actually post it because my break time was short lived. I spent the next five hours mediating ridiculous arguments, bouncing a cranky baby every 10 minutes, picking up every toy we've ever owned and herding my crew of live stock to bed at a reasonable hour--thank God I had our awesome neighbor friend Faith come over to play with the kids otherwise things would have got really ugly.

And we woke up today and did it all over again. Snow Day #2

An impromptu rock band

Hah! Look at Bella. She's rocking out with a triangle--poor thing.

Their tower of power

Snow Day Polar Confinement Day #2 turned out not so bad after all. Though some of our heating went out and we shivered through dinner--it's been cozy wearing pajamas all day and having no plans. Several of my Facebook working moms noted how awesome it was to be home with their kids for 2 days, and that was all I needed to remind myself how lucky I am to be a SAHM.

Sidenote- I've joined Google+ and frankly, I have no idea what that means, but at least I can easily upload my iPhone pics to my blog without having to sync. And I think it just randomly creates GIF files for me. Cuz look:

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

You know when older people do that thing where they lie about their age and always chose 39 as their go-to answer? Well, today I'm that number.

And its funny because I can remember when my dad turned 40 and wondering what "over the hill" meant and laughing at all the funny gag gifts like spray-on-hair and a fake 6-pack. And here I am. Well, almost.

I opened my eyes this morning and decided that I was going to stay sleeping for as long as I could. And it was glorious. Eugene intercepted every obstacle that could have come my way--no children waking me up, no infant next to me wanting milk, no dog whining to go out--it was like a dream. I slept for another hour until I woke to the sound of my 5 besties marching and singing Happy Birthday. Grinning from ear to ear they presented me with breakfast in bed, an occasion that only happens twice a year, my birthday and Mother's Day.

They're so proud of their culinary achievement.

Nutella filled croissants, cheesy omelette and bacon.

Eugene always lays a bathroom towel under the tray, since he knows how crazy I am about having food in the bed. And every time its just the cutest thing ever. Sure, I end up stripping the sheets and throwing in a load of laundry about 5 seconds after everyone's off the bed--but it's totally worth it. I'll always cherish these breakfast traditions with Eugene and the kids.

Later on, we had my family over for dinner to celebrate. Eugene cooked a three course meal of my favorite things, bruschetta, Spaghetti alla checca and steak au poivre. I felt loved all day long--what a great feeling that is.

Somewhere between the second and third course I looked down at the table and noticed a note written by Bella that informed me of a "saprise" in the great room and that all I needed to do was to follow the arrows.

Bless their hearts, a little scavenger hunt.

So I did as I was told and followed about 30 paper arrows that lead me to my homemade birthday cards that were hiding under the coffee table. They were so excited for their little scavenger hunt and I was so touched by their effort and creativity. I hope we are always this fun and this excited about the little things.

But the highlight of my night was catching this moment between my mom and Indy that just warms my heart. Baby giggles are the absolute best!

I think the craziest thing in the world are people who spend time complaining about their age. What is with that? It is freakin' unavoidable people and frankly, with every year I grow and change and learn more than I did the year before. And that's what I call growth.

Friday, January 17, 2014

With over 68,900 pictures stored onto my Mac I'm constantly looking for different ways to creatively display our photos. I mean really, what good are these memories if they're just sitting in a virtual file somewhere, right?! Whenever I'm in someone's house and I see family photos on canvas I think to myself I've got to do this! And while I love the way a black and white family picture looks on canvas I always hesitate at the high cost. What if I don't like the way the end product looks? What if I get tired of a certain picture and want to change it out but end up keeping it on the mantle forever because the damn thing cost me $300.

Every single time I looked into ordering one, I chickened out.

And thank goodness that I did--because friends, I have discovered how to make my own photo canvas for next to nothing.

Exhibit A: The two pictures seen here cost me less than $20 to make. Yes, that's right LESS THAN $20!!

Step 1-chose pictures that have meaning and would look good converted to black and white. Using your computer's photo software convert your picture to black and white (most have this option) and look for good tonal quality. You may need to adjust your contrast or brightness to find the best look. The above picture on the left already had great contrast with the kids in the forefront and the trees in the background. The picture on the right, however, has awful tonal quality.

For example my face is washed out and way too bright. The walls of the hospital room are flushed and don't provide the greatest of textures but it doesn't matter to me, this was the first picture we took as a family of 6 and that has more meaning to me than the quality of the photo.

Step 2- E-mail your pictures to your local FedEx/Kinko's and order "architectural prints" of each. The cost will range between $4.95-$9.95 for each picture depending on size. Why is the cost so cheap? Architectural prints are printed in high quality onto plain paper not photographic paper which costs so much more. Also, the pictures have to be black and white. You cannot complete this project with color photos, sorry folks but large color prints are expensive. Both of the above pictures were $4.95 and were printed up in a 24 x 36 inch size. You can also print a 36 x 48 and the cost is $9.00. Like this canvas we did for our bedroom. What an inexpensive way to cover such a large, lonely area!

This Metro sign was the first thing we saw in Paris as we ascended up the stairs from underground. Our entire bedroom is filled with black and white pictures from our Paris trips so this big abstract photo fits in.

Step 3- Purchase a $12 foam insulation board from your local home improvement store. Foam insulation boards can be found in the drywall/insulation area and can range anywhere from $9-$12 depending on thickness levels. I went with a 1.5 inch thick board. Here's a picture of the one I bought and to see it online click here Home Depot.

Now watch out because these boards are HUGE! They typically come in 4ft by 8ft sizes so unless you have a flatbed truck, I recommend buying or bringing a retractable razor so you can split it up for easier transport. Even after splitting it in two pieces I had to tie it to the roof of my minivan and drive ever-so-carefully home. But if you've got more patience than I do, cut it up into the estimated sizes of your prints while still at the store and it will make transport that much easier. The $12 board you see above was enough to make all 3 of those pictures, and I even had a little left over!

Step 4- Using your razor blade cut the board about 2.5-3 inches smaller than your print. This allows the picture to cover the sides of the board and onto the back for secure installation. Beware--cutting a straight line into foam isn't all that easy. And fyi the little foam balls get everywhere.

Step 5- Spray glue the picture to the foam board. Lay your cut foam piece on a tabletop or the ground and carefully place the picture on top. Starting on one side, lift up the picture and spray a section of the board with your spray adhesive.

Any spray adhesive will work

Carefully lay picture back down and with your palm or a spreading tool smooth out the paper so no air bubbles get trapped and make sure picture is securely glued to board. Lift another section of the paper and continue spraying and ironing until the entire photo paper is glued to the board.

Step 6- Wrap the picture around the board like a present. If your calculations were right, you should have a 2.5-3 inch border of paper all around the board. Here's the fun part. Start on one side and fold the corner in and wrap the paper around the back of the board.

Once you've folded over the paper secure it with either a staple gun or even duct tape,
which is what I used.

Here's what the back of mine looks like all taped up!

Step 7 (optional)- Spray a protective coating on top.I say optional because I could not find spray Modge Podge anywhere.

I tried Michael's and Hobby Lobby with no luck, so I ended up not spraying the family photos. In fact, I had an old bottle of acrylic spray that I attempted to spray on the Metro picture, hence all those white spray marks you see (that kind of look like graffiti). I'm not sure if it's because the bottle was old or if I sprayed too close but either way I didn't want to attempt it on the smaller ones. If I can find Spray Modge Podge then I will definitely spray the smaller ones. I think a glossy coat will give it a little shine and bring out the contrast even more!

But the best part about this project is that I can EASILY change these pictures out whenever I want. All it takes is an email and some duct tape since I'll always have the foam board.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Another year has passed and when I think about all that has happened to us this year, I just have to smile. What an epic year it turned out to be. Here are some of my favorite moments caught on film...

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About Me

Gina is a wife, mother and avid Neil Diamond lover. She is proud to be a SAHM for Narciso Inc. Responsibilities include but are not limited to, follow established schedule, ensure all upper level management are fed, dressed and bathed in a timely and efficient manner, facilitate daily dance parties and quarterly tea parties with real water, possess ability to calm mild to severe tantrums and have a love for the job.
Which she does.